Top Nine Must Take Photos at Disney World

A trip to Walt Disney World is a great time to take photographs and capture memories of your family or party having fun together. Before I get into the list, I want to say that I truly believe you should take photographs of the people you are with. Those are the folks you care about and are building memories with.

However, that said, if you are like me you also enjoy taking photographs of the buildings, attractions, and other interesting sites that surround you at Walt Disney World. Walt Disney World is truly a visual playground for those who like to take photographs.

If you had to focus your photography efforts on just nine items, what would they be? I’ve made my list of the top nine must take photographs at Walt Disney World. Let’s take a look:

Magic Kingdom

As the most popular theme park in the entire world, the Magic Kingdom has literally scores of subjects you could photograph day and night. However, if you had to be limited to the top items, here are the ones I would choose.

1 – Cinderella Castle

Probably the number one item on any Walt Disney World photography list is Cinderella Castle. A beautiful structure that changes its look by day and night, it’s easy to take dozens of pictures of the castle.

The Castle is a beautiful subject for photos.

2 – The Haunted Mansion

It’s fun to take photographs of the exterior of Haunted Mansion. The architecture of the building is beautiful and helps to tell the story of the attraction that lays within.

The Haunted Mansion.

However, taking photographs inside this dark attraction is incredibly challenging. When you are on this attraction, if photography is your goal, hope for the attraction to stop so that your doom buggy will remain still and give you a better chance of taking quality photographs. Otherwise, the motion of the attraction and the dark spaces in the ride make taking good photographs an extreme challenge.

3 – Wishes Fireworks

The wishes fireworks show which takes place high above Cinderella Castle is one of the most beautiful nighttime spectaculars at Disney World. The photographs of fireworks exploding over the castle are truly iconic. If you want to take photographs of this firework show, be sure to bring a tripod. Taking photographs of fireworks when holding the camera, or even worse, a smart phone, with your hand is almost a guaranteed way to take disappointing pictures.

If you want to take photos of fireworks, be sure to bring a tripod.

Epcot

With all the countries in World Showcase, Epcot is a visual delight for the amateur photographer. Unfortunately, this is a top nine list, so I had to limit the choices for each park. At Epcot, if I had to pick just one structure for photography, it would be Spaceship Earth.

4 – Spaceship Earth

When it comes to visual icons of Walt Disney World, Spaceship Earth in the Future World section of Epcot is nearly as well-recognized as Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom. Very few people who walk into Epcot with a camera can walk out without at least a few photographs of the huge geodesic sphere.

It’s fun to frame Spaceship Earth with trees or other objects.

When taking photographs of spaceship Earth, consider some unique angles, or putting perspective into the shot by including buildings, monuments, or trees in the foreground. Also, consider taking photographs and in the daytime and nighttime. The structure looks very different depending on the time of day.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

With its variety of settings that are designed to be photographed locations, the Studios is a fun place to take pictures.

5 – Tower of Terror

I love the look of the Studios. The heyday of the 1940s was a great time for style and architecture in United States. The Tower of Terror captures all of that style in one amazing and slightly eerie building. It’s fun to take photographs of the tower from various angles. If you decide to take photographs inside the attraction, be sure to hold onto your lens cap!

Hold on to your lens cap!

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

One of the interesting things about Disney’s Animal Kingdom is that so many of the subjects – especially the animals – are in motion. It isn’t always easy to capture them in pictures.

6 – Expedition Everest

When Disney spends $100 million to create the most expensive roller coaster in the world, you can be sure that it provides some beautiful scenes. Expedition Everest really delivers for photographers. Whether you are taking photographs of the mountain from afar or some of the wonderful details in the queue, Everest provides plenty of opportunities for amazing pictures.

Everest is very picturesque.

7 – Kilimanjaro Safaris

Kilimanjaro Safaris provides two great advantages for photographers. The first is that the attraction vehicles truly get up close to live animals. The second is that the ride vehicles make stops providing you with a clear chance to take your pictures.

Be sure to catch some animals in action.

Others

8 – Monorail

Nearly as iconic as Cinderella Castle, the Walt Disney World monorail system is both a way to move thousands of people every day as well as a technological work of art.

The monorail is a classic.

9 – Your Hotel

It really doesn’t matter which Disney resort hotel you are staying in. All of the resort hotels have great opportunities for photographers.

Herb is the founder, author, webmaster, chief executive, and chief bottle washer for World Of Walt – and he is the Disney enthusiast who put this site together. Ever since his parents took him to the Magic Kingdom on a family vacation as a youngster, he has had an interest in the magic that Disney creates for families.